12 May 2017

Last 7 May PBA featured game between Ginebra San Miguel and Alaska Aces was another nail-biter classic. Unfortunately, it was marred by calls or non-calls from the officials in the endgame.

Considering that one of the imports publicly announced a few days before that he thinks the San Miguel Corporation, owner of Ginebra San Miguel, have the referees in their "back pockets," it won't be hard to surmised who the call favored.

For the entire 48 minutes, the Aces are fighting a losing battle. Despite the high percentage shots and decent defense they put up, they don't have a chance against a team with the refs at their side.

Among the questionable calls and non-calls, none was bigger than Alaska import Cory Jefferson's game-winner attempt at the 5.8-seconds mark which was somehow bothered by his counterpart Justin Brownlee.

Alaska’s bench reacted over the alleged non-call which proved to be their clearest chance as JVee Casio also missed his hurried three-point basket.

"It just did not go our away," was how Jefferson safely described his shot. If he uttered the most obvious reason or even hinted of any irregularity, he would have been fined and could have been banned by the league Commissioner.

Breaks of the game? Afraid not if the calls and non-calls are consistently anti-Aces. One such crucial non-call is shown below:

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PBA Advisory

2017 Commissioner's Cup Format

The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6-foot-10.

The top 2 teams will earn twice-to-beat edges over Nos. 7 and 8 while the No. 3 against No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5 pairing will be a best-of-three affair in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal stage will have a pair of best-of-five matches and the finals will be a race-to-four affair.

Gilas Pilipinas

Manila will host one of the three tournaments in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The Philippine national men’s basketball team will try to pull off massive upsets against France, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and Senegal in the competition slated on July 5 to July 10 at Mall of Asia Arena.

A total of 18 teams will participate in the three-nation event whose champions will book tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympics.